The Kneading Trough.
It is scarcely possible to express the astonishment and almost terror which seized Agnes at this sight; and she ran back to her mamma almost too frightened to ask the cause of what she had seen. Her mamma, however, explained to her that it was the nature of the animals belonging to these shells to bury themselves in the sand when they were alarmed; and she added, that the disappearance of the shell was a certain proof that it was inhabited.
“Oh mamma!” cried Agnes, “how I should like to see the animal. Can’t we get it up out of the sand without hurting it?”
“I am afraid not,” said Mrs. Merton; “for these animals have been known sometimes to descend to the depth of two feet, and I believe they generally go at least a foot beneath the surface, which is a greater depth than I could possibly dig to, with the point of my parasol, and I have no other instrument at hand.”
“But then,” cried Agnes, “how will the poor solen return itself, for I suppose it will not always remain buried in the sand?”
“If you will look attentively,” said Mrs. Merton, “you will see that the solen has left a little hole, by which he can return to the surface whenever he thinks proper, which no doubt will be as soon as we have disappeared;” and, in fact, when Agnes looked at the little narrow tube which the solen had left in the sand, she fancied she could see some slight appearance of its shining pinkish shell in the hole. Her mamma, however, would not suffer her to attempt to get the shell out, lest she should destroy the tube, and thus convert the poor solen’s retreat into its tomb. She, therefore, stood for some time looking at the hole in silence; and at last asked her mamma if there was not any way of bringing the creature out without injuring it.
“It is said,” returned Mrs. Merton, “that when a fisherman wishes to catch one of these creatures alive, he can bring it to the surface by throwing a little salt down the tube; but, strange to say, this plan is only successful once, and the fisherman must be on the watch to seize the shell the moment it makes its appearance, as if the animal becomes alarmed and descends a second time, the salt has no longer any effect upon it, and no efforts on the part of the fisherman can induce it to rise again.”
“How very curious!” said Agnes; “but I do hope we shall find another of these creatures in time to seize it. Are they common on this coast, mamma?”
“Not very, I believe,” said Mrs. Merton; “and I think the kind of which you have the half valve is not a British shell at all, but has been washed here from some other country.”
They now walked on, and Agnes picked up the half of another bivalve shell, which her mother told her was called Mactra, or the Kneading Trough, from some fancied resemblance in the shape of the shell to that utensil. As this shell was not very beautiful, Agnes soon threw it away, but not before her mamma had made her observe that one of the teeth was shaped like the letter V.